Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2009

Capecitabine has been developed as a prodrug of FU, with the goal of improving tolerability and intratumor drug concentration through tumor-specific conversion to the active drug. The purpose of this article is to review the available information on capecitabine with respect to clinical efficacy for tumors of the digestive tract, adverse-effect profile, documented drug interactions, dosage and administration, and future di Read More

Bone and soft tissue sarcomas are an infrequent group of tumours with a prevalence of 4 in 100000 people/ year. Sarcomas, such as synovial sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma, are more usual in adolescents or in young adults. Neoplasias such as leiomyosarcoma or liposarcoma are more frequent in patients over 55 years. One relevant topic is related to sarcomagenesis elucidation, a key for discover Read More

In the last 10 years the medical approach to platinum-resistant Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) has radically changed, passing from a lack of evidence of any primary treatment against the tumor, to the identification of chemotherapy or EGFR inhibitors as the gold standard for clinical practice. Eight randomized clinical trials support the evidence of efficacy of second-line treatments against NSCLC, and docetaxel, peme Read More

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) is normally expressed in the human immune system and plays a critical role in antitumor immunity. TRAIL interacts with the death receptors, DR4 and DR5, and activates intracellular apoptotic pathway in cancer cells. This discovery has resulted in a rapid development of cancer therapeutic agents that can activate this apoptotic pathway. These therapeutic Read More

Primary central nervous system neoplasms are the second malignancy in children following leukemia. Despite developments in neurosurgery and new drugs in chemotherapy, irradiation is an essential part of the management in most of pediatric brain tumors. A good treatment strategy should consider not only survival but also the quality of life. The new approach of radiotherapy and importance of new drugs in combined treat Read More

Liver metastases from colorectal cancer (CRC) have a poor prognosis. Despite recent advances in the management of advanced disease with chemotherapy, liver resection remains the only hope for cure for patients with colorectal liver metastases. Approximately 15% of patients with stage IV CRC referred to specialist centers have metastatic liver disease deemed to be resectable at presentation. Over the last five yea Read More

This review focuses on Eating Disorders (ED), the role played by neurotransmitters and peptides in ED phenomena as well as the drugs used in the treatment of these diseases. For ED, we mean a syndrome characterized by persistent alteration of eating behavior and the conditions that cause an insufficient ingestion and/or adsorption of foods. There are three different ED diseases: Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) Read More